Personally, I'm an Adium user at heart -- iChat is super nice (especially for a built-in chat program), but it just doesn't have the features and customizability that that Adium does. But if you have to use iChat for whatever reason (easy video conferencing comes to mind) despite your love for Adium, then this mod, sent to us by reader Philipp, will probably come in handy.It's called iChat Pro, and it basically simplifies your iChat window, squeezing out the borders and cutting the buttons at the bottom. I don't think you can change the colors and design of the display the way you can in Adium (it's been a while since I used iChat, and a quick browse through the preferences didn't reveal any options for that), but at least it looks a little more professional than the, let's admit it, a little goofy, default iChat GUI. iChat Pro is a free iChat mod from Infinise Design.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-13-2008 @ 10:23PM
adam said...
but does it allow you to auto-hide? i mean that's really adium's big pull right? or is that just me...
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2-13-2008 @ 10:44PM
Peter Zich said...
I don't think it does that. I love that feature also, but I wouldn't say it's *the* major feature or anything.
2-13-2008 @ 10:28PM
mike said...
I just installed this mod but would like to uninstall now. How do I do that?
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2-13-2008 @ 10:45PM
Peter Zich said...
The installer says "Make a backup of your iChat.app first!", if you need a new copy you can probably pull it out of an install dvd or I could archive and post a copy.
2-13-2008 @ 10:46PM
Hawkman said...
You see where in the installer it has a warning notice to the effect of, "Make a backup of iChat.app first. This will be the only way to restore the default contact list."? Yeah. So if you didn't, have fun digging out your Mac OS X DVD. Pacifist will help you extract just the iChat installer, I suspect.
2-14-2008 @ 9:33AM
Libb said...
This is one of those places where Time Machine would/will save your ass.
2-13-2008 @ 10:50PM
Sketch said...
I'd been using Adium for two or three years until about a week ago, when I discovered it was the source for serious slowdowns on my practically geriatric G5 tower. I wish it weren't so, but this may help relieve some of the separation anxiety I've been feeling.
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2-13-2008 @ 10:51PM
mike said...
Yes, could you post a link to an archive of the ichat.app file? Thanks so much!
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2-13-2008 @ 11:02PM
Pete Zich said...
I'm not sure what versions of iChat this installer works on, or which you're running, but I have a copy of Tiger iChat and Leopard iChat. Here you go: http://pz2.ucls.uchicago.edu/iChat/
2-13-2008 @ 10:58PM
Lumpy Dog said...
I utterly adore Adium. That being said, the voice and video chat functionality, not to mention the trick screen and video sharing features of iChat are very cool. Plus, I just plain love all the scripts I run on Adium.
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2-14-2008 @ 12:03AM
zsteiner said...
Chax has had this feature and more for some time. It is easily unistallable and seems to stay out of the way. I've been using it for months and have had no complaints.
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2-14-2008 @ 3:14AM
adam said...
about a month ago they added the auto-hiding. but it doesn't stick to the side and slide in when i roam my cursor to the edge... i wish adium could just get ichat video support...
2-14-2008 @ 1:21AM
Paul S. said...
Very nice! Between this and Chax, iChat is even better!
My only issue is that it changes the video icon next to your image, but keeps the icons in the buddy list the same.
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2-14-2008 @ 2:09AM
artifex said...
does it Growl?
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2-14-2008 @ 3:01AM
Jeff said...
Few suggestions! The installer shouldn't autoload with mounting the image. This encourages the "Agree", "Yes" and click crowd to install and NOT back a backup. There is no reason the installer itself can not create a backup and replace the dock icon as part of the install or add another confirming dialog as in "Are you sure...have you created a backup...?'. This is important for a mod with no uninstaller.
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2-14-2008 @ 3:56AM
ljun said...
you can auto-hide the buddy list with chax
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2-14-2008 @ 4:00AM
Stu J said...
surely the biggest draw for Adium is the multiple protocols supported (MSN, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo etc etc).
I want to go back to ichat I really do - but until the multi-IM's come into effect it's a no go. I did do the Jabber thing to get MSN & google people on my ichat- but it wasn't pretty.
I was almost convinced that apple & co would introduce that functionality into Leopard - but alas....
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2-14-2008 @ 4:32AM
DownwardMonkey said...
Same here, I really would like MSN with iChat. I don't really l like MSN but when you have friends that use it...
2-14-2008 @ 4:52AM
Taylor said...
I wish that there were a way to use MSN in iChat without doing the Jabber method.
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2-14-2008 @ 5:27AM
russ d said...
Tab browsing? i need that. Does it have that?
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